Broadband News
Wed, 19th May 2010
Hughes sets up Aussie branch to bid for NBN Co Ka band satellite
Broadband satellite builder and network operator, Hughes Network Systems, has formed an Australian subsidiary to bid for NBN Co's expected tender for Ka-band satellites.
Source: iTWire
Economists, analysts dispute NBN study numbers
Economists and analysts are lining up to challenge the assumptions and calculations made in the NBN Implementation Study, prepared by McKinsey-KPMG after a $25 million commission from the Federal Government.
Source: iTnews Australia
Tue, 18th May 2010
NBN Co wants IT ops manager
The state-owned company behind the National Broadband Network has advertised for a top-level manager to lead its newly created IT operations team.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Vividwireless reveals Perth WiMAX network speeds
Vividwireless has revealed that users of its six-week old WiMAX network in metropolitan Perth are recording average downlink speeds of 9.53 Mbps
Source: iTnews Australia
Competition Tribunal pans Telstra's ULLS cost modelling
The Australian Competition Tribunal has published its reasons for last week's decision rejecting Telstra's proposed price for the unbundled local loop service, saying it does not accept Telstra's cost modelling methodology.
Source: iTWire
Skilled migration targets ICT and NBN
Occupations such as cook and hairdresser have been replaced by more technically-inclined positions on a new skilled occupation migration list released by the Federal Government yesterday.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN Co consults in Armidale and Willunga
NBN Co has initiated community consultation for rollout of its FTTH network in two of the first release sites: Armidale in NSW and Willunga in South Australia.
Source: iTWire
Cable networks a threat to NBN plans
A billing and operating system upgrade could tidy up the Telstra and Optus hybrid fibre-coaxial networks for sale to the NBN Co.
Source: Australian IT
Telstra to allow data rollover on iPad 3G plans
Telstra will permit unused data on its pre-paid iPad 3G plans to be carried forward into the following month rather than expire at the 30 day use-by period, but there's a catch...
Source: APC Magazine
No room at the internet
Could everyone please stop launching blogs and upgrading smartphones and buying airconditioners that are operated across the web? The internet is nearly full.
Source: SMH
Mon, 17th May 2010
Survey: ISPs not to blame for copyright violations
According to a recent poll, while acknowledging that downloading copyrighted material is against the law, respondents overwhelmingly agreed that ISPs were not to blame.
Source: iTWire
Manly Fast Ferry offers free WiFi
Commuters on the privately-owned Manly Fast Ferry service can access free WiFi internet from today following a successful two week trial of the service.
Source: iTnews Australia
Acacia wants its NBN money back
Former fibre-to-the-node National Broadband Network bidder, Acacia, has reportedly come out of the woodwork to fire a legal shot across Stephen Conroy's bows. It wants the $10 million it spent on its bid back. Since Acacia was a bid made up of influential men and using their money, I really can't fault the action. But it seems to have taken Acacia a long time to make up its mind. It's over a year since the government decided to go its own way.
Source: ZDNet Australia
AFACT applauds LimeWire ruling
The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) has welcomed a US Federal Court ruling that popular peer-to-peer file sharing service, LimeWire and its operators, are liable for inducement of copyright infringement.
Source: Computerworld
NBN arguments 101: Is Australia's NBN world class?
Some have called the proposed fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) national broadband network (NBN) "world class," but how far ahead of the rest of the world is Australia? For those who haven't heard, the network will provide committed speeds of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) to 90 per cent (possibly 93 per cent) of the population, as well as at least 12Mbps to most rural areas of Australia through fixed wireless and satellite services. Given Australia's geography and the speeds its more remote constituents have had to deal with currently, it certainly seems like an ambitious project.
Source: Computerworld
Nextgen digs WA and NSW regional backhaul links
Work is set to commence on the New South Wales and Western Australian links of the Federal Government's $250 million broadband blackspots project this week.
Source: iTnews Australia
Cyber-safety committee speaks out on ISP filtering
The Joint Committee on Cyber-Safety is set to release details of public hearings and submissions into mandatory filtering as well as other cyber-safety issues.
Source: ARN
Capital must wait for NBN rollout
The first rollout of the national broadband network, in Tasmania, is forcing Hobart residents to wait longer for super-fast services.
Source: Australian IT
Praise for NBN from an unexpected quarter
A private sector executive in the home of free enterprise has backed the Federal Government's decision to put public money into the creation of the National Broadband Network (NBN).
Source: iTWire
Sat, 15th May 2010
Broadband network boss not fazed by Abbott threat
The head of the national broadband network has brushed aside threats by the federal opposition to dump the project if elected, amid concerns over safety and the network's profitability in high-density areas.
Source: SMH
Fight to filter out evil leaves bad guys to do their worst
Buried in the budget papers - not this week's beige bundle but the Rudd government's first effort in 2008 - is an ugly set of numbers. Small numbers, but ugly. The Coalition had boosted funding to the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Team, a unit of the Australian Federal Police.
Source: SMH
Fri, 14th May 2010
Photos: building Tassie's Scottsdale NBN
In the lead-up to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's July date for switching on National Broadband Network (NBN) services in the first Tasmanian homes, ZDNet Australia has obtained some photographs of the roll-out taking place in Scottsdale, Tasmania.
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN pricing: revolution or revolting?
Questions over the pricing of NBN services were answered in part, as Exetel revealed an innovative pricing model that will save money for light internet users and price bandwidth hogs off of its services. Underneath that pricing, however, are some important lessons about the prices at which NBN Co can deliver its fibre services - injecting some reality into long-running speculation over future NBN pricing.
Source: ZDNet Australia
'Hire us for free', NBN chief told
National Broadband Network (NBN) chief executive Mike Quigley today said he had turned down workers who had attempted to offer their services for free to build the Federal Government's National Broadband Network (NBN).
Source: ZDNet Australia
Date set for iiNet v AFACT - Round 2
The stage has been set for another face-off between iiNet and the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT).
Source: ARN
Our vote is in: Kirby for net filter blacklist inspector
Communications minister, Senator Stephen Conroy, has tried countless ways to appease the more skeptical of us that mandatory ISP-level filtering is a good idea.
Source: Computerworld
NBN Co selects first release network designers
NBN Co has contracted seven companies to design both aerial and fibre broadband networks at its "first release sites".
Source: iTnews Australia
Optus will protect NBN from cable wars
Optus has thrown its support behind controversial measures to stop infrastructure builders from competing with the national broadband network, as the telco reported another stellar profit result for the year.
Source: The Australian
Thu, 13th May 2010
Telstra set to double capacity of inter-capital fibre network
Telstra has upgraded its Sydney-Melbourne optical fibre network to operate with 40Gbps per wavelength, doubling capacity and says it will upgrade other major inter-city routes over the coming year.
Source: iTWire
Parents reject filter when told more: survey
A survey commissioned by groups opposed to the Federal Government's internet filter project has found that the more information parents receive about the proposal, the less likely they are to support it - although they strongly supported the filter idea overall.
Source: ZDNet Australia